The use of digital cameras has proliferated over the past few years. Rather than using film, a digital camera stores electronic photos on a storage medium such as a memory card. There are many types of memory cards available today. Compact flash and smart media are two examples. “Compact Flash” is a registered trademark of the Sandisk Corporation while “Smart Media” is a registered trademark of the Toshiba Corporation. Sony's “Memory Stick”® and IBM's “Microdrive”® are two other examples.
To print an image stored on a memory card, software operating on a desktop computer accesses the memory card through hardware often referred to as a reader. That software then directs a printer connected to the computer to print the image. Recently, memory card readers have been integrated directly into the designs of a number of commercially available printers. Programming operating on the printer is capable of reading and printing images stored on a memory card bypassing the need for a connected computer.
Often a memory card will contain a large number of images. A user will desire to print some and not others. For example, a user may capture a number of digital images of a subject hoping to obtain one or two acceptable images. The user may only desire to print the acceptable image or images. A second user may have work-related images commingled with personal family images. The second user may desire to print the work-related images. After printing, users often desire to move digital images from a memory card to a digital album or other archive stored on a hard drive. Unwanted images are deleted from the memory card.
When a computer is used, software running on the computer can utilize the computer's color display, keyboard, and pointing devices to provide a user with a sophisticated interface for printing, archiving, and deleting digital images. Where a printer is used, the printer's programming usually does not have the luxury of a monitor, keyboard, and mouse for doing the same. As a consequence, a computer is often needed to effectively complete the combined tasks of printing, archiving, and deleting digital images.